Fwoosh! A bright light enveloped the area. An unfamiliar silhouette started to take shape. The summon revealed itself with a bang and shockwave.
Crackle!
"Bangul!" Something shrieked and flew toward Lloyd. He quickly reached out to save it from hitting the ground. Her skin felt plush in his hands.
What kind of summon partner is this? Lloyd quickly checked to see what it could be.
"Bangul!"
"Huh?"
She was plump and about four inches long. She had a large round head, and her beady eyes glimmered. There was a gold bell attached to the end of her tail with a ribbon.
"A snake…?" Yes. The new summon partner was a snake.
She's so strangely proportioned. Lloyd wasn't making fun of her appearance. He was simply making an objective observation of his new friend, whose body and head were of equal size.
"Are you… really a snake?"
"Bangul!" She nodded in the affirmative. Her expression was quite coy.
Then he remembered something. So, he asked, "Is your name Bangul?"
"Bangul! Ba-bangul!" Bangul nodded once again.
Lloyd was right. Well, it's nothing surprising for a creature to yell out its name. That famous yellow cartoon character did the same, yelling 'peeka peeka'. That helped him to better understand the relationship between the summon creatures and their language.
Lloyd stared at Bangul. A short, equally proportioned snake… He wondered if she could slither around properly. But he wasn't the kind of person to make a hasty judgment. He had already experienced Ppodong. That taught him that he must not judge summons based on their looks.
"Hey, Bangul?"
"Bangul?"
"Do you have a manual or something?"
"Ba-bangul? Bangul!"
Lloyd was skeptical, but she really did have one. Bangul opened her mouth wide. There was a bag inside. He opened the bag and found ten sets of sunflower seeds and a neatly folded note. Lloyd read it carefully.
[Bangul User Manual
Bangul is a lovely rattlesnake. Please show her love and care.
Bangul will give her utmost loyalty to you, her master. A summon partner is not only your companion animal but also your family, so please don't neglect them.
Bangul can change her size by eating one of the enclosed sunflower seeds.]
[Red Sunflower Seed: Bangul grows to gigantic proportions. Effective for a maximum of 12 hours.]
[Blue Sunflower Seed: Bangul shrinks back to a smaller size. Feed this to Bangul before the 12-hour limit is up. Bangul will be dehydrated if she goes past the 12-hour limit without eating a blue sunflower seed. She will automatically shrink back to her small size, but she will not be able to grow gigantic for the next 24 hours.]
'One set of each color of sunflower seed costs 1 RP. Bangul can use a wide range of skills while she is gigantic.]
Bangul's Skill Log
Chomping Dirt (Lvl. 1)
Accelerated Dirt Digestion (Lvl. 1)
Steel Dung Launcher (Lvl. 1)
Whaaat? Dirt chomping? Accelerated dirt digestion? Steel dung launching? Lloyd's mouth hung wide open in disbelief when he read Bangul's skill log. It was dumbfounding.
Wait a minute, she's not going to poop steel after eating dirt, is she? With lingering doubt, Lloyd brought out a red sunflower seed and gave it to Bangul to test.
"Hey, Bangul?"
"Bangul?"
"Do you want to eat this?"
"Bangul!"
Bangul chewed it up as if she was waiting for it. Lloyd put her down on the ground and stepped back. The moment Bangul swallowed the sunflower seed she was munching on… Boom!
"Bangul!"
She became gigantic. Bangul was now sixteen feet tall, but her head and body were still of equal proportion. Yes, this is nothing new. He had already experienced the same phenomenon with Ppodong.
Lloyd walked over to Bangul. "Hey, Bangul?"
"Bangul!"
"Do you want to test out your skills?"
"Bangul?"
"You know, eating and digesting dirt, stuff like that. Can you do it?"
"Ba-bangul?" Bangul's eyes sank as though she was disappointed by her doubtful master.
Lloyd flinched in guilt. Hmm… She's a bit snobbish. I guess Ppodong and Bangul are different. That was how it appeared. So, Lloyd adjusted his tone to sound more like a request.
"Of course I trust you. It's just that I need to see it. I just want to see how cool you are," Lloyd cooed.
"Bangul?"
"I mean it."
"Bangul!" Bangul's face brightened, and she wriggled her body in happiness. Then she hung her large, round head toward the ground of the hall and opened her mouth.
"Ba-bangul!"
Chomp! Yum! Gulp!
Goodness… She's eating dirt. Is that how I look when I'm eating fried chicken? The way Bangul savored the dirt made him wonder. She scooped the dirt up with her mouth and scarfed it down. After a long while, she let out a big burp.
Then she started to shake her short, chubby tail. "Bangul! Ba-bangul!" Jingle! The bell tied to the end of her tail rattled noisily.
Then she lifted her tail high and made a straining expression.
And… Clank! Clank! She squeezed out a long, steaming, red-hot turd made of steel.
OMG. It's like she's making popcorn. Lloyd suppressed his embarrassment and examined the steel poo she had just deposited. It was only then that he realized Bangul's true potential.
This is amazing: Her poop was actual steel. And it wasn't shaped like the poop emoji. It's a steel bar. It was about thirty-two feet long and the width of a human thumb. The steel bar was polished and perfect, without any bumps. From the start to the end, the steel bar was sleek and smooth.
It was a rod of perfectly reinforced steel rebar. And it's very hot. The steel bar poop was still as red and hot as when it came out. This meant just one thing. I can cut it before it cools down. I can cut or bend the bar in any way I want.
Lloyd realized that he now had an unlimited supply of steel rebar as long as he just kept feeding her dirt.
This is… Woah. It's too good to be true! It was indeed too good to be true. Come to think of it, I can do more than produce steel bars from her. She could eat the dirt. Which meant that she could dig out an underground tunnel. So, if he included Bangul in his plan…
Bangul would eat the dirt in the shield machine and dig a tunnel. At the same time, she would release steel bars, and the blacksmiths would cut them to the needed length right on the spot. The workers would then make and set up the sections of metal walls that would support the mine. Once the metal walls have been erected, we could move the shield and repeat the process.
The construction plan slowly came together in his head. The more he thought about it, the more amazed he became. If this plan works, the construction period would only be a tenth of what I expected.
Lloyd only wished for a summon who had the ability to dig the earth. But the one he got turned out to be much better than that. Lloyd stood there, looking at Bangul in a daze.
"Hey, Bangul?"
"Bangul?"
"You are really something. You're the best," Lloyd said.
"Ba-bangul?"
"No, I correct myself. You are the best, the bomb, the greatest one there is."
"Bangul!"
Lloyd gave her a thumbs up. Bangul flashed back a happy grin.
****
After he earned Bangul from the summoning game, construction preparation gained momentum. Lloyd customized his shield machine design for Bangul. The segments and rebar components that made up the walls were fitted accordingly. The construction work now centered around Bangul.
"Ppodong?"
"Ppo-do-dong!"
"Bangul?"
"Ppodong!"
"Ba-bangul!"
To Lloyd's relief, Ppodong and Bangul got along very well. The fact that they were a snake and a hamster combo worried him, but he realized that he was mistaken. Instead, the fuzzy hamster and chubby rattlesnake instantly clicked and became best friends, perhaps because of their shared identity as summon creatures. They stuck with each other, rolling around and playing on the ground on days without work. They even sunbathed and dozed off to sleep together.
Whew. Good for you two. You can goof around all day, and people will call you cute. While the two summon beasts lazed around, Lloyd busied himself with his tasks.
He visited the forge every day, pestering the blacksmiths. He personally supervised the production of the shield device. After about ten days, they finally completed the shield. It looked like a soda pop can laid down on its side with open ends. Its diameter was about ten feet, and its front area was reserved for Bangul. The dense construction of the sides ensured that the circular shape would remain intact and firm despite the weight of the earth in the mine.
The back area was for the workers. They would be protected by the shield structure there and be able to cut the steel bars Bangul would produce from all the dirt she ate. That allowed them to quickly install the metal walls that would keep the mine from collapsing.
We're all set. The next task was assembling the workers. A group of blacksmiths to cut and shape the hot steel bars underground. An army of civil engineers to push the shield device forward while supporting the blacksmiths. Planning out the division of labor was completed with ease. The baron's approval made things move along seamlessly.
With everything ready, Lloyd began construction. Finally, it was time for the shield device to see the light of day.
"Bangul! Ba-bangul!"
Inside the shield, Bangul moved her large head around. She opened her mouth and swallowed any dirt or rocks in sight. A little later, her stomach wiggled, and she rattled her short tail.
Jingle! Her tail rattled more vigorously.
"It's coming!" Lloyd's shout made the blacksmiths nervous. Finally, Bangul blessed the workers with bars of steel poop.
Fwish! The red-hot steel bars flew into the air.
"Hurry up before they cool. Javier!" Lloyd shouted.
At his call, Javier moved quickly. He removed his coat and drew his sword. Swish! The long blade shone as coldly as Javier's face. He wielded the sword like a bolt of lightning, splitting the hot steel bars.
Swoosh! Javier—the expert swordsman—slashed down at the scorching bar with all his strength and cleanly cut through it. However, there was more.
"Hey! You're cutting the correct lengths, right?" Lloyd yelled.
"Of course."
Swoosh! Swoosh! Slice! Slice! Slash! Javier's long sword brilliantly danced in the air. He sliced the steel bar ruthlessly.
In the original Knight of Blood and Iron novel, Javier's sword struck down powerful enemies with ease. But now he brandished his sword to slice up the metal poop of a summon partner. His precise swordwork reminded him of chefs in seafood restaurants who effortlessly cut fish into equal pieces.
Clank! Clunk!
Dozens of short and long bars littered the ground. Everything was a perfect size. Lloyd gave Javier a thumbs up. "Good! Not a single inch short."
"Thank you," Javier said hesitantly. While Lloyd erupted in joy, Javier sighed at length for having been demoted to a steel cutter. Once he finished, it was time for the blacksmiths to work.
"Move before the steel gets cold! Assemble them!" Lloyd shouted.
"Yes, Young Master!" the blacksmiths yelled in unison.
"Let's go!" The blacksmiths moved with shipman-like precision. They bent Javier's steel bars according to Lloyd's precise measurements. They carefully weaved, fixed, and assembled them into a wall that fit right into the inner side of the shield.
Once Lloyd was satisfied with the work, he yelled, "Shield! Forward!"
"Forward!" Dozens of civil engineers repeated in unison. They mightily pushed the lever connected behind the shield, and it slowly crawled forward, despite the massive weight of Bangul and the workers. The shield moved three feet, which was the exact distance Bangul had cleared the way for them by eating the earth. When it lurched forward, the three-foot metal walls were released from the shield, holding the ground back behind them.
Rumble! The shield's movement caused the walls and ceiling of the tunnel to shake, but it didn't collapse. The metal walls behind the shield firmly supported them.
Everything was happening just as Lloyd had planned. Good. It's working. Lloyd's eyes flashed with determination. His voice now contained more confidence while leading the project.
At the same time, he meticulously examined what was in front of him. Flash! He was using his intermediate surveying skill. Lloyd could scan the ground sixteen feet ahead of him that would be dug out later. He studied the geographical characteristics and whether a dangerous gas layer lurked nearby. The skill enabled him to supervise his people while getting a full picture of the work. It was the ultimate method to prevent any construction disasters. His eyes boasted the capability of modern seismic prediction monitors and reflective imagery for observing underground construction sites.
"Okay, people!" yelled Lloyd. "Let's keep up the momentum!"
"Go, go, go!" The workers enthusiastically replied.
"Bangul!" shouted Bangul.
The yells of Lloyd and his people, along with Bangul's booming exclamation, rang loud in the underground. They burrowed deeper into the mountain. The construction went quickly.
But no one suspected what waited for them at the end of the tunnel.
Translator: https://bettertranslation9.wordpress.com